My Journey of Training (10 years and counting...)
Backstory
As a kid, sports and fitness were my least favoured options. I tried playing with my friends at school, and was terrible at every sport we played. Sometimes, I'd get bullied for it and would often be amongst the last few to be chosen for a team. It wasn't a great feeling as a kid. Backing out of sports seemed like the safer option because it saved me from the discomfort of trying and failing—and from the shame of being bullied. I focused on what I was good at: academics. But deep inside, the feeling of not playing any sport seemed as uncomfortable as the feeling of not doing well in one, if not more. I was too scared to fail, and admittedly, I still am. But things have gotten better in the last 10 years.
Introduction to Working Out
My introduction to regular training first happened at my office gym—a place that wasn’t too crowded. Those who did show up were beginners like me. It felt like a safe space with minimal performance pressure and no fear of losing. As I built consistency and started putting on some muscle, I began to feel better looking at my body—something I’d never paid much attention to. But more important than that was the confidence I gained—something I longed for as a child. The child who was scared of bullies finally felt he could handle them. The very act of showing up everyday was self-rewarding. All I had to do was to go to the gym, work out, and the reward of confidence was strong enough to keep me going.
Why I hate/fear Laziness
Alongside my love for training is also the fear of laziness winning over me. Even though I've been fairly regular—training on at least 80% of the days over the last 10 years—what keeps me going is that fear. Laziness shows up in different forms and keeps reinventing itself, offering endless reasons to rationalize skipping a workout. All of them seem valid, and the moment we give them space, that seemingly harmless bug of laziness can grow into a monster—one that destroys the dignified warrior I am constantly trying to create. So I keep it in check. I train more often than not, especially on days when I find myself rationalising not training. James Clear explains this well in Atomic Habits. The idea is simple: just get out of bed, dress up, and do one set. Do it well enough, and you'd be pushing through a great workout in no time—that's me paraphrasing it in the poorest form, duh.
My achilles heel
While overcoming laziness is the main challenge for most people, I have often found myself on the other side—training too much, or skipping the basics. I am strong believer in the idea that growth happens outside the comfort zone. But go too far, and you’ll end up unable to train for days—or even weeks. That’s where I’ve found myself, more often than I’d like to admit. In the last couple of years, I've had more injuries than I can count on my fingers—over a dozen MRIs, some stress fractures, ligament tears, tendinitis—you name it. Most of them can be attributed to the same mistake—failing to differentiate between pushing past the comfort and entering the injury zone. There are smart people who learn from others' mistakes. Then there are hard-headed ones like me, who need to reflect through their mistakes to understand what went wrong. Looking back though, my the journey did have its positives—I managed to do some wild things, like cycling 280km with just a month of training, hiking 47kms in 10 hours, 32km of indoor rowing, deadlifting 3x my body weight, 1,000 pull-ups, and much more. Despite being painful, it was fun. But honestly, the injuries hurt a lot—more mentally than physically. I think I still could’ve done all this had I been more tactical.
Goal
We all have tools we tend to overuse, no? I'd consider those who don't either lucky, or naive for not having found theirs yet :) While my journey is unique, I believe every athlete grapples with the challenge of finding the right balance. With experience, we get better at finding that thin line where growth peaks before it starts to drop. Finding that line balance still remains a constant challenge for me, but it's a very interesting problem to solve. And something, I'm getting better at. I'm constantly trying to reflect on my past mistakes and combine those insights with the wisdom of more experienced folks—trainers, coaches, athletes—to build a better roadmap. My goals have started to shift from chasing the feeling of dopamine rush to staying injury-free and being able to train consistently. Another goal I have is to share my lessons with people who need them most—to help them avoid the mistakes I made. Because when I was making those mistakes, I didn’t have a reference point to avoid them. Maybe it was hard to find, or maybe I just didn't dig deep enough. There’s a line that resonates deeply with me: You try to share the lessons that you need the most, and perhaps that's the best gift to offer to this world. Stay tuned for more!
P.S. - Throughout this period, I've tried a bunch of sports—like bouldering, mountain biking, cycling, and running. Cycling and running have stuck around, and I truly enjoy them (and hopefully, would continue being able to). Let's see what's next on the list ;)